Cyclone Vardah intensifies, heads towards India’s Andhra Pradesh

Cyclone Vardah over the Bay of Bengal will intensify further before crossing the coast of India’s Andhra Pradesh.

The cyclonic storm gathered more strength after developing from a deep depression on the southeast bay, the Met Office said on Friday.

Vardah was expected to make landfall on Monday after moving northwest to cross Nellore and Kakinada of Andhra Pradesh.

Maritime ports in Bangladesh have been asked to keep hoisted Distant Warning Signal No Two. The sea will remain rough around the storm’s centre and fishing trawlers were advised not to venture out in the deep sea. 

The system was centred about 1130 kilometres south of Chittagong port at 6am Friday.

Vardah has been moving northeast at 10 kilometres per hour from Thursday midnight, according to a special bulletin by the India Meteorological Department.

The storm would intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm in the next 12 hours, it said.

It was expected to initially move northwest before moving to the west-northwest direction towards the coast between Nellore and Kakinada.

But the storm may lose strength before landfall next week, said Indian weather experts.